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Altarnun Revisited
I was back in Altarnun in early August 2019, I was last there in May 2015 when I looked in the church briefly at the beginning of a long and most enjoyable walk that took me, by way of Tregirls, up onto Fox Tor on Bodmin Moor. I have also used Altarnun as a starting point for walks, including an enoyable Inny Valleys Walk. This time, before enering the church, I lingered in the porch for the attractive carved roof bosses. Inside, I was again captivated by what must be one of Cornwall's very best collections of medieval carved bench ends, 79 in all, carved over twenty years in the mid-16th century period by Robert Daye. Some of the best examples are below; here are some more examples of my Altarnun favourites.
Altarnun, St. Nonna's
Although I had been in or through Altarnun on many occasions, including an Inny Valleys Walk that starts here, and had attended a village coffee morning some years ago, I realised, to my surprise, that I had never been inside St. Nonna's Church. So when my friend Bob suggested an outing to include Altarnun and a walk on East Moor, I was happy to join him in February 2017. This is a holy place of some significance as Nonna, also know as Non, Nonnita and Nun, was the mother of the patron saint of Wales, St. David. Sadly, Non's Holy Well, on the edge of Altarnun, is appallingly overgrown; it is a disgrace that the village does not maintain it. Generally speaking, I was quite impressed by the interior of the church. There are good wagon roofs with carved bosses. At each end of the extended Victorian screen, there is only a remnant of the medieval screen. There is a rood stair entrance but no stairs. There is a fine font, one of the best of the so-called Altarnun Fonts, Norman with a bearded face at each corner. There are, unusually, no memorials. The church's finest feature is the superb collection of medieval carved bench ends, 79 in all. Some are entertaining - a Cornish bagpiper, jesters, violinists, sheep. Moving is a so-called vernicle, a portrait of Christ on a handkerchief held by an angel. Outside is a good Cornish Cross with identical obverse and reverse.
Altarnun, St. Nonna's Bench Ends
Hands and Feet